1 Maricopa County supervisor opposes board’s motion for stay in election lawsuit

PHOENIX – The legal battle over election control in Maricopa County splintered Monday with opposing court filings by members of the Board of Supervisors.

The long-running legal drama continues with early voting for the July 21 midterm primary elections starting in just seven weeks.

The dispute dates back to June 2025, when Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap, a Republican, sued the GOP-controlled board over election responsibilities. Last month, Superior Court Judge Scott Blaney issued a ruling that was mostly in Heap’s favor.

Days after the ruling was issued, the Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 to file for a stay in hopes of delaying significant changes in the election process for Arizona’s largest county until after the midterm cycle.

“We’re asking him for the stay, and for me the basic reason is we’re in the middle of an election,” Board Chairwoman Kate Brophy McGee told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Mike Broomhead Show on April 23. “Let’s not confuse the voters. We’ve managed to conduct five smaller elections over the last year and four months. Let’s finish out these elections and figure it from there.”

The board plans to appeal Blaney’s ruling if the motion for a stay, which was filed Monday, is rejected.

Maricopa County Supervisor Mark Stewart files alternative request

In another legal twist, District 1 Supervisor Mark Stewart filed a response seeking court-ordered mediation ahead of any ruling on the stay request.

“Supervisor Stewart asks that the court order the parties to attend a mediation before a court appointed mediator within the next two weeks, and respectfully asks that the court refrain from issuing the final signed judgment pending completion of mediation,” Stewart’s filing says.

While Stewart is one of the five-member board’s four Republicans, he retained independent legal counsel for the Heap lawsuit in February.

What is the dispute over election control in Maricopa County?

In his lawsuit, Heap maintained that the board exceeded its authority by taking funding, IT staff and some key functions — including managing ballot drop boxes and establishing early voting sites — away from his office through an agreement negotiated with the previous recorder, Stephen Richer.

For the most part, Blaney agreed with Heap’s argument. In his ruling, he ordered the board to return “the IT staff, servers, databases, software, websites, and equipment that were in the Recorder’s custody and/or control prior to October of 2024.”

The ruling also prevents the board from taking over any function delegated to the recorder under state law without consent.

In her April 23 interview, Brophy McGee said Blaney’s decision left too many issues unresolved this close to the midterms.

“There is no clarity. There is confusion. There is further potential for conflict, and we have to get this figured out, and the appellate court exists for a reason, and it exists because this ruling is, in fact … a total bust. I’m so disappointed,” she said.

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